Blog/Marketing & Growth
Marketing & Growth
December 1, 2025· 3 min read

Foundation Grant Prospect Research Tutorial

TL;DR

Foundation grant funding can transform a nonprofit's budget --- but only if you know how to find the right foundations and approach them effectively. GrowConsulting delivers a methodical tutorial on grant prospect research that takes you from a blank spreadsheet to a qualified pipeline of funding opportunities. The video covers the major research databases and tools available to grant writers, how to screen foundations against your organization's mission and programs, and the specific qualification criteria that separate high-probability prospects from long shots. The instructor walks through real research examples, showing how to read a foundation's 990-PF tax filing to understand their giving patterns, average grant size, and areas of interest --- information that dramatically improves your hit rate. The tutorial also addresses how to prioritize prospects based on alignment, capacity, and accessibility, and how to build a research workflow that can be maintained on an ongoing basis rather than done in a panic before each deadline. For grant writers, nonprofit development staff, and executive directors, this is a practical foundation for sustainable fundraising.

Watch the video version of this article

About This Video

Foundation grant funding can transform a nonprofit's budget --- but only if you know how to find the right foundations and approach them effectively. GrowConsulting delivers a methodical tutorial on grant prospect research that takes you from a blank spreadsheet to a qualified pipeline of funding opportunities. The video covers the major research databases and tools available to grant writers, how to screen foundations against your organization's mission and programs, and the specific qualification criteria that separate high-probability prospects from long shots. The instructor walks through real research examples, showing how to read a foundation's 990-PF tax filing to understand their giving patterns, average grant size, and areas of interest --- information that dramatically improves your hit rate. The tutorial also addresses how to prioritize prospects based on alignment, capacity, and accessibility, and how to build a research workflow that can be maintained on an ongoing basis rather than done in a panic before each deadline. For grant writers, nonprofit development staff, and executive directors, this is a practical foundation for sustainable fundraising.

What You'll Learn

  • How to use foundation research databases and tools to build a targeted prospect list
  • Reading and interpreting 990-PF tax filings to understand a foundation's real giving patterns
  • Key qualification criteria that separate high-probability funders from long shots
  • How to match foundation interests to your organization's specific programs and mission
  • A prioritization framework for ranking prospects by alignment, capacity, and accessibility
  • How to build an ongoing research workflow instead of scrambling before each grant deadline
prospect research
grants
fundraising
tutorial